During its 48th session, the Congress held a debate on the Russian federation's war of aggression against Ukraine, focusing on Ukraine's decentralised recovery and reconstruction with a human-centred, inclusive, transparent and sustainable development approach.
Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development, Oleksii Riabykin, thanked the Congress for the steadfast support in local self-government reforms and capacity building. "Your expertise and institutional support will help us strengthen our democracy and develop a people-oriented multilevel governance," he noted, adding that partnerships between Ukrainian and other European municipalities and regions will accelerate recovery and reconstruction efforts.
"The decentralisation reform initiated in 2014 with the support of the Congress has been instrumental to increase the resilience of Ukrainian municipalities and resist the unjustified and unprovoked war," underlined Vitalii Bezghin, Chair of Ukraine's Parliamentary Subcommittee on Administrative and Territorial Organisation and Local Self-Government. He informed the session about the current work to update the decentralisation reform concept aimed at addressing the new challenges brought about by the war and the European Union integration process.
Presenting the Declaration adopted by the Congress, co-rapporteurs Martine Dieschburg-Nickels (Luxembourg, L, ILDG) and Gunn-Marit Helgesen (Norway, R, EPP/CCE) stressed the need to ensure strong institutions and empowered communities and citizens in Ukraine, as being essential for a sustainable future. They highlighted the importance of the human dimension of recovery - including the need to support veterans, war-affected populations and children - where local and regional authorities will be on the frontline. The Congress also underlined that Russian confiscated and frozen assets should be utilised for reconstruction efforts.
Italy's Special Envoy for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, Davide La Cecilia, fully endorsed the text of the declaration and informed that it will become one of the deliverables of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025.
